272 ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 



Having treated of the limitations sought to be imposed upon tlie Tri- 

 bunal in resi>ect to the contriving of Eegulations for the preservation 

 of the seals, 1 come to the real problem. Wliat is the problem before 

 this body on this branch of the subject! It is to contrive such Eegula- 

 tions as are necessary for the preservation of the fur-seals. Whatever 

 is necessary to that end must be recommended, no matter what it is, or 

 where it is operative, or what, otherwise, may be its effect. Whatever 

 measures are necessary must be adopted. It is not to be supposed that 

 all taking of seals is to be prohibited, for that would be to deprive man- 

 kind of the benefit of the animal. We must assume that the benefit is to 

 be secured, and the taking be so regulated as to prevent extermination. 

 IsTow the solution of that problem requires a study of the nature and 

 habits of the animal, the methods by which it is pursued and captured, 

 tlie perils to which it is exposed, and the means which may best be 

 ado]ited to protect it against those perils. These are the things to be 

 considered. But these are the very things which were taken into con- 

 sideration in the inquiry into the question of property. I was obliged 

 to discuss them all when I was upon the question whether the United 

 States had a property in the seals; and the conclusion reached was that 

 it was necessary for the purpose of securing to mankind the benefit of 

 the animal, and at the same time preserving the species, to award to 

 the United States, which had a situation and a territory giving it a 

 natural control over the animal, tlie benefits of the right of pro])erty. 

 Substantially the same problem now returns, though in an altered form; 

 it is the same problem which human society has been engaged upon 

 from the dawn of civilization to the present day. How can the benefit 

 of animals useful to man be secured, without destroying the stock? 

 That, I say, is a problem upon which society had been engaged for cen- 

 turies, and the solution has, in every instance been, to award the rights 

 of property to those, if any there were, who had such a control over 

 the animals as enabled them to secure and supply for the uses of man- 

 kind the annual increase while at the same time preserving the stock. 

 How else, can the problem be solved ? How can you preserve to man- 

 kind a race of domestic animals, unless you award property to those 

 who have such a control over them that they can preserve or destroy 

 them at pleasure? The United States has such a control over the fur- 

 seal. He comes upon its soil; he remains there five or six months 

 of the year; he subjects himself voluntarily to its power, so that it 

 can destroy him at once if it wishes. How can you preserve that race 

 except by inducing the nation having this control, and this i)Ower of 

 destruction to withhold the exercise of that power. And how can you 

 induce men to withhold the exercise of such a power except by award- 

 ing them the benefits of the right of property? If you Avill allow to 

 them the reward of their abstinence; if you will induce them to exer- 

 cise care, iiulustry and self-denial, by assigning to those qualities their 

 appropriate reward, then you can pieserve the race. Otherwise, that 

 preservation would be imi)ossible. Therefore, I say that the problem 

 of contriving Regulations is the same as that which arises in consid- 

 ering the question of i)roperty. But the question of property is <leemed, 

 for the ])urposes of our present argument, to be decided adversely 

 to the United States. That, however, does not change the nature 

 of the i)roblem at all. If the United States has no property right 

 Avliich will enable it to preserve the animal, there must be Begulations 

 agreed on by all (lovernments, having an effect tantamount to that of 

 a property right. Yon nuist permit the United States to take the 

 increase of the animal, and prevent, by liegnlatiuns, all other nations 



